MY SPR friends around or above 55 have a positive view on CPF compared to SC

[PNGMK]

The usual ah beng rant on CPF from Singaorean's is that the gahmen stole my money which is of course completely baseless. The second rant is "I want my money now when I am 55"; forgetting that literally SCORES of their fathers either lost all their CPF to scams, or buggered off to Batam to marry their whore or blew through it far too quickly and are now living in MacDonalds.

The thing I've noticed about my SPR friends is the discussion tends to be around how can we top it up even further to we can use the annuity (CPF Life, CPF Basic etc) as a pension backed up by a solid govt and currency when we leave Singapore (and in some cases this pension is tax free). There is solid sense of relief that it is there. FYI there are a number of ways you can top up CPF and they are basically:

1. Cash - limited tax relief and there is an overally cap on contributions
2. Paying back any housing money you may have used - this can be done piecemeal using paynow. No tax relief.

Don't forget SRS either. A massive savings on income tax for both SPR and foreigners.

[GSM8]

Totally concur with your take and could never understand why many here seem to consider CPF as gahmen "stealing".

Don't forget SRS either. A massive savings on income tax for both SPR and foreigners.

One point about SRS though - it does indeed reduce ones current tax bill, but 50% of the withdrawal amount (principal + accumulated gains) is taxable in the year of withdrawal. On the other hand, if one doesn't take the SRS deduction and invests in the same funds post tax, the cap gains and dividends in the ensuing years are not taxable in Singapore. So SRS works well if one is currently in a high enough tax bracket, and is planning to withdraw gradually after retirement (as opposed to lump sum)

[PNGMK]

Thanks for clarifying the SRS situation. I need to remember to top it up soon before end of Dec.